The Internet today has become the gateway for connected users to access a plethora of information and interactive services. In addition, the Internet can provide users a mechanism for ordering various goods and services, including tickets and merchandise, that will later be delivered by conventional transport means, and for ordering and receiving non-tangible goods that can be delivered in digital format directly over the Internet coincident with the transaction. Example of the latter may include software, music, video, and even electronic cash.
Billing for information, interactive services, tangible goods or services ordered over the Internet and provided conventionally, or non-tangible goods delivered over the Internet, which are provided from a plurality of different sources, requires the user to establish a financial relationship with each of the many different Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In many instances, the relationship may be very fleeting if the user wants to only access information or an interactive service from an ISP once or twice, or only on a very occasional basis. Establishing such a relationship with a multitude of different ISPs is inconvenient and will generally require furnishing the ISP with some type of payment mechanism, such as supplying a credit card number, in order for the information, service, and/or goods to be provided via the Internet or other transport mechanism. In view of the non-secure nature of the Internet, users generally do not wish to provide their credit card number to an ISP unless it can be done in a secure fashion.
In a co-pending patent application of one of the co-inventors herein, Ser. No. 08/532,336, filed Sep. 22, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,556 issued Apr. 28, 1998, a method for providing a centralized billing mechanism through the phone company is disclosed. As disclosed therein, a user places a real or virtual telephone call using, for example, a 900-number to reach the ISP to whom he or she is connected via the Internet. The ISP then associates the received telephone call with the IP address of the Internet connection by means of identifiers sent via the Internet and the phone connection before providing service to the user. The ISP, through arrangements with the telephone company, can set user charges for the 900-number call to an amount appropriate to the value of the information or services provided on the Internet. The user thus pays for the information and/or services by means of payment to the phone company for the 900-number call, and the provider receives payment for these services and/or information from the phone company. The user thus need not establish any financial relationship with the provider but deals only with the phone company, and the ISP is able to interact directly with the trusted phone company to receive payment for the information and/or services provided to a plurality of different accessing users. Such arrangement requires a separate real or virtual connection through the phone company to effect billing.
An object of the present invention is to provide a centralized billing mechanism which directly handles the billing functions for all chargeable transactions made by a user through different ISPs and which is essentially transparent to the user in his or her interactions with the various ISPs.